The Red Bull Formula 1 team believes the poor start that ruined Daniel Ricciardo's Chinese Grand Prix was the result of a procedure error by the Australian driver.

Ricciardo fell from seventh on the grid to 17th on the first lap at Shanghai, and could only recover to ninth.

After the race, Ricciardo said the anti-stall system had triggered as he tried to pull away, but that he was "not quite sure why".

Team boss Christian Horner said the early indications were that it was not a mechanical problem.

"It looks like human error," he said.

"The initial feedback I had is that it looks like some kind of mistake on the pedal.

"Whether or not he had all the lights, I don't know.

"Unfortunately it was an expensive error because you're on the back foot when you're fighting with McLarens at the back of the field."

Ricciardo was the only Renault-powered driver to score in China as both his team-mate Daniil Kvyat and Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen suffered engine failures.

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Renault F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul said Ricciardo's poor race had amplified the sense of crisis around the team and engine supplier.

"It's unfortunate that Ricciardo did not finish higher," Abiteboul said.

"At least with a better result it would have been a more positive story for the Red Bull/Renault group this afternoon."

Ricciardo also felt Red Bull's strategy could have been better handled.

"We were obviously stuck in a bit of traffic," he said.

"I didn't really feel we could get the option [soft tyre] working.

"I wanted to go on the prime [medium] but then the team said the prime didn't look so good, so we had to go back on the option.

"But at the end of the race the pace was better, and that was on the prime, so maybe we'll look at if we could've done something better there.

"But the start was obviously what shagged our race."